


Alex's Birthday

by Rogueangelll



Category: 18th Century CE RPF, Alexander Hamilton - Ron Chernow, American Revolution RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:35:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27751657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogueangelll/pseuds/Rogueangelll
Relationships: Alexander Hamilton/John Laurens
Kudos: 29





	Alex's Birthday

_Laurens > are you awake? _

_Hamilton > yes_

_Laurens > happy birthday! <3 Did you have cake?_

_Hamilton > thanks, and I bought a small cake.I'm going to eat it in a little bit._

_Hamilton > missed you today, did you still wanna call like you said?_

_Laurens > I've been really busy today.I'm sorry.I wanted to so bad. I know it's important to you, but I've actually gotta go now and I just needed to check in with you before sayingI love you._

_Hamilton > Good Night_

_Laurens > I miss you so much._

• • •

Hamilton sat cross-legged on the floor of his kitchenette apartment. He had a mattress. That was good. He had a mattress, a small table, a lamp with an ugly, dusty shade, a cheap, hole-ridden Craigslist couch, and two metal fold-up chairs. He didn't have much, but he had something. It didn't feel like home. His dorm stuff was in boxes. He should unpack it to give the place some Columbia-U spice.

In front of him on the waxy wood was a cake from the grocery store with a single candle on top. It was the same candle he burned for twenty seconds or so on his birthday every year since he was fourteen; his fourteenth birthday was the first birthday he celebrated after his mother. He had the dumb little worn-out candle ever since. Now he was twenty-seven, and the candle was at its end. It might last another year or so if he was conservative enough.

"Happy birthday to me," he hummed to himself. He glanced at the big open windows behind him that allowed the city light into his dark apartment. The walls were brick, the windows old and large and dirty. He figured he should clean them and put up some curtains.Eventually—when Laurens got back.Laurens knew how to color coordinate.

Hamilton blew out the candle. He had made a wish, but didn't even say it aloud. Superstitions were dumb to him. But, he needed every last wish he could get if he wanted his true wish to come true.

A knock on the apartment door startled him. He was completely in the dark on the floor in front of his tiny cake, and the only light was from the window now since the candle no longer flickered the orange glow on his skin. Startled, Hamilton froze. He stared at the door. His apartment was such a mess, books everywhere, the only blankets he owned wadded and bunched at the foot of his shitty little mattress, and the counter sported an empty pizza box and several dirty paper plates.In the corner were a few boxes of clothes and nicknacks, some things that weren't his, and all the rest of their stuff was stowed away at Lafayette's apartment.What a good friend he was.

The knock came again, louder. It was almost midnight, who would be at his apartment? Any of his friends would most definitely call or text before coming, especially this late at night, and on a day that they knew he didn't like to be bothered. Besides, they had already wished him a happy birthday, and knew he would be upset if they came back and did so again. This late at night! The only person who couldn't take no for an answer or who would show up this late was—

Another, even louder, knock. "Alex?"

Hamilton jumped to his feet. He disregarded the cake and flicked on his apartment lights to open the door without unlocking it. The chain snapped and so the door only opened a couple inches. He peered through and saw familiar eyes.

"John," he breathed in with a shuddering breath. It couldn't be true. He closed his door hastily and unlocked the chain, then opened it back up and swung it open wide to fling himself into Laurens' arms.

Laurens wore a thick coat and gloves, a hat and scarf, and his eyes looked so tired and lifeless. Hamilton thought he'd collapse just at the sight of him.

"John," he whispered. "John... oh, my God!"

"Happy Birthday," Laurens said. He grabbed at Hamilton's back, tugged at the fabric of his sweatshirt, and pressed his forehead to the side of his head. 

"You're so cold..."

"Haha, yeah. I'm freezing."

"Come inside," Hamilton urged, pulling him in and shutting the door behind him quickly. Laurens pushed him against the door and kissed him desperately. Hamilton whimpered at the feeling of holding him again. He wrapped his arms around Laurens and wouldn't let go.

"I missed you."

"I missed you too," Hamilton said immediately without a moment's hesitation. "I love you. Why are you back so soon? I-I thought you weren't coming back 'till—"

"Shh," Laurens hushed him and grabbed him by the hips. He kissed him on the cheek and neck."I came back early to surprise you for your birthday.My flight got canceled, though, 'cause of snow.So I had to find an expensive, last-minute flight with a layover and then I took a bus and—well, I'm just glad I'm back before midnight."

"J.Your dad let you do all this?" he breathed, embracing Laurens' arms and pressing up against his body.

Laurens avoided the question."Jesus, I thought I had the wrong apartment.And it looks more spacious than I remember."

"J, your dad?"

Laurens sighed and kissed Hamilton on the cheek."...I didn't tell him."

"Oh, man..."

"I-I know, I just—I had to see you, and after I told 'im he just pretended like it never happened.But I'm back, and I wanted to be with you.It's your birthday, and you're all alone in our apartment, and you've had to move in while I'm off in South Carolina. I felt so bad and it was supposed to be our thing."

"It's okay. Don't feel guilty about something you had no control over. And your dad is an asshole. Yeah, he's your dad, but—"

"I don't want to talk about him. I want to love you."

"Shouldn't we wait 'till we get a real bed, J?"

"'Shouldn't we _wait_ 'till we get a _real_ bed, _J_?'" he mocked. "As if we haven't—"

Hamilton laughed. "Yeah, okay."

"Well, in all seriousness, whatever you want to do, darling. I'm fine with it. ...Alexander, I love you so bad it hurts sometimes.I wanted to move in with you and then we could make our apartment all homely and nice... and..." he rubbed his hands up and down Hamilton's back, still pressing him against the door, "...we could get like, a dog or something... a cat, anything, and then we could sit out on the fire escape on early mornings and drink coffee.We could lay in bed all day and be together.Then, maybe, someday..." he trailed off and nuzzled his nose against the top of Hamilton's head.He sighed and held him close."I just—I couldn't not see you.It's been three weeks already.We were supposed to move in as soon as I got back, and I wanted it to be our thing, I wanted to lift that ugly old sofa with you and bring it up the stairs, and I wanted to just..."

"Hey, there's plenty of time for that. Have you seen this place?There's plenty of decorating left to do.This apartment isn't a home without you, John.Don't worry about me leaving you behind."

Laurens felt himself go weak.He wanted to squeeze Hamilton until he felt better.He knelt down and picked Hamilton up at the bend of his knees and hoisted him over his shoulder, to which Hamilton kicked and protested weakly.He playfully banged his fists against Laurens' lower back.

"Is this our bed?" Laurens whispered, staring at the mattress."Jesus."

Hamilton groaned, "I had to compromise.Couldn't buy a real bed without you."

Laurens grinned and leaned his head against Hamilton's thigh, which remained on his shoulder.He was increasingly aware of how heavy Hamilton was.

"Put me down," he whined, "I'm seasick!"

"Is that cake?"

"John!I'm going to grab your butt, I swear to god!"

Laurens just laughed and swatted Hamilton playfully.He carefully let him down and kissed his forehead.Hamilton smiled cheekily and pressed his chest to Laurens, then reached his hand around to smack his ass and grab it.Laurens bit his lip and rolled his eye.

"I put you down, what more do you want?"

Hamilton laughed."Was just marking my territory."

"Yeah?"

"You know how much I hate when you carry me," he grumbled, hiding his smile.Laurens shook his head and grinned as he sat down on the floor in front of Hamilton's cake.Hamilton sighed and sat down next to him.

Laurens wrapped his arm around Hamilton."Happy birthday..."

"I already blew out the candle.It hasn't got much left of it... maybe it'll make it to my thirtieth if I'm lucky."

"Well, I'll buy you a new candle for your thirtieth.A big 'thirty'."

"Ah, cheesy," he grinned, "but I like it."

"Do we have silverware anywhere?"

Hamilton shook his head."Only plastic ware.I bought some, it's on the counter."

Laurens got up to find forks while Hamilton picked the cake up off the cold floor and sat it down on the desk.He unfolded the two chairs and waved Laurens over.

"How fancy," Laurens chuckled.

"Quite. I was gonna eat it all myself over a course of a few days, y'know, as meals and such, but look, you're here, so you can help me eat it!"

Laurens shook his head and sat after dragging his chair next to Hamilton's at the tiny table.Hamilton rest his foot near Laurens' and leaned on him as they dug into the cake.

"Gue'th what?" Hamilton said through a mouthful of cake.Laurens swallowed.

"Hm?"

"I 'wuv you," he giggled with cake in his mouth still.Laurens playfully pushed him.

"I 'wuv' you too," Laurens mocked.He wrapped his arm around Hamilton's waist and kissed him on the forehead."How're you doing, by the way?"

Hamilton finished his bite of cake."I'm great now that you're here."

"What about when I was gone?"

"Oh, well, the first few weeks were miserable for me—"

"I've only been gone a few weeks."

"I know.I mean, I had my good times, I celebrated Christmas and New Years with the Schuylers, and of course I called you on New Years and—well, yeah.And I finished the rest of the work I needed for Washington, too.André offered to help me move, but then got busy last second.Oh, all the rest of the boxes are still at Laf's.He's not back yet from France so he doesn't mind having it there until we can get the rest in here."

"We should make a trip to IKEA soon."

"Hah, yeah, us and what army?It's all the way in Brooklyn.And we can't bus around with furniture or whatever we get."

"We'll get a rental."

Hamilton made a small noise of distress."J, that's all so expensive!"

"It's fine, don't even worry about it.We both have jobs, we got this apartment really cheap for the city, so we're pretty good on money right now."

"You don't even know if your dad will be your support net anymore.What if something happens?"

Just as he was about to go off on a rant about money and whatnot, Laurens put a hand on his knee and looked at him seriously. 

"I don't care. We have each other. We're not going to starve or live on the streets, we have jobs and there's a bit of wiggle room. We deserve to splurge a bit after all the shit we've put up with. Okay?" He sighed. "Hey. I know it's hard..."

Hamilton frowned but said nothing as Laurens trailed off. Laurens grabbed his thighs and pulled him closer from where they sat on the floor. He hung his head and continued talking:

"I know that we grew up... differently. But you know we can handle this. I don't want you to worry, especially on your birthday."

"I'm not worrying," he said defensively, looking away. He set his cake down. Laurens looked at him disdainfully. "I'm really not!" he defended.

"It'll be okay. Let's bask in this milestone for a bit."

Hamilton whined again but gave in. He didn't want to argue about it. "You're right," he said, "I guess."

"You guess?" Laurens teased playfully. He combed one hand through Hamilton's hair and went to kiss him, but he turned his face so Laurens' lips landed on his cheek instead. "Aw, don't be like that."

"Like what?"

"You know what. Let me kiss you."

Hamilton crossed his arms. "No."

Laurens grabbed his hips and pulled his lower half up so that Hamilton was essentially in his lap. He wrapped his arms around his middle and tried again to kiss him. Hamilton, again, evaded it.

"Alex!"

Hamilton smiled, closed his eyes when Laurens pressed their foreheads together. He figured he'd give in and just kissed Laurens.

He pulled away. "Put the cake away," he commanded Laurens. "I'll be waiting on the," he glanced beside him at the mattress, "Uh, mattress."

Laurens laughed and began to pull away. 

"Make it snappy," Hamilton reminded. "It's not my birthday for much longer and I deserve a gift!"

"You say that like I wasn't planning on giving you one any—"

"Chop, chop!"


End file.
